267 replies to this topic

[Nicholas Steel]

The villager's are afraid of Dracula, bad guys are on the verge of resurrecting Dracula, logically some villagers went to great lengths to barricade themselves in their homes to keep out the evil... then you came along and ruined everything for them by destroying their barricades

 

Some villagers also don't trust you either so you could also consider it as them trying to distance themselves from you.

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 10 September 2015 - 01:47 AM.

[kurt91]

Ultimately I don't think any hack can "fix" this game; to do that, you'd basically have to completely rebuild it, and at that point you might as well just make a new game entirely.

Funny that you should say that...

 

http://castlevania-i...n.uptodown.com/

 

This one's the homepage for a remake called "Castlevania II - Simon's Quest: ReVamped" It appears to be a 1-1 remake, that tries to at least update some of the more problematic parts of the original. The creator is actually planning a massive update right now, and is looking for advice/ideas/assistance on a Castlevania fan-site: http://castlevaniadu...pic,7940.0.html

 

http://www.castlevan.../homebrews.html

 

Another remake, called "Dracula's Shadow" can be found here. It doesn't appear to be an exact replica, as the site claims to add new areas and other new features. An odd thing about it is that there's an experience system, and every time you level up, you're taken to a boss battle, and have to EARN your stat upgrades.

 

I haven't played either one, and while ReVamped looks nice, I think that you'd probably enjoy Dracula's Shadow more. I watched an episode of a Let's Play, to see how it played, and it looks very fun to play.

[Jamian]

I've recently replayed Castlevania on the NES. I still can't beat Dracula without cheating (using save states). He is hard

 

I know it's possible to cheese part of the fight with the holy water, but if you die you start over with only 5 hearts (+ only a few more you can pick up beforehand). And the stage just before him, with all the fleamen, is pure chaos, it's difficult to get through unscratched.

[The Satellite]

You can go back down and up the staircase to grind for as many hearts as you think you need. And unless something went very wrong with your game, you don't have to worry about dying and continuing, as it'll place you back at Dracula's staircase. Castlevania 3 is the only one I know of that makes you redo the level after continuing instead of putting you at the staircase.

[Jamian]

You can go back down and up the staircase to grind for as many hearts as you think you need. And unless something went very wrong with your game, you don't have to worry about dying and continuing, as it'll place you back at Dracula's staircase. Castlevania 3 is the only one I know of that makes you redo the level after continuing instead of putting you at the staircase.

 

I didn't know that, that's good to know. (It should have been obvious, I don't know why I didn't think of it, actually) The game does place me back at Dracula's stairs, but I thought that if I wanted to fight the count with more hearts, I would need to get them from the previous stages.

Edited by Jamian, 10 September 2015 - 03:37 PM.

[Air Luigi]

 

So it's ultimately disappointing, but not truly awful. I don't hate it, but I don't think I'm too eager to return to it any time soon. I actually did like the music, but there's still a lack of variety. Honestly, that's been a common theme with this game: Lack of variety all over the place. Ultimately I don't think any hack can "fix" this game; to do that, you'd basically have to completely rebuild it, and at that point you might as well just make a new game entirely.

 

The frustrating thing about this Castlevania is the wasted potential. Mansions with another approach of design and a bit more of though with the enemies/bosses/subweapons would have done wonders to this game.  The funny thing is that Konami did other exploration games those same years with awesome results.

[The Satellite]

I've been thinking about Castlevania 3 lately and what made the game so brilliant, other than amazing music and near-perfect level design; level nine can still bite me. Okay it already has. Repeatedly. While the games taking place solely in or around Dracula's castle still give off an awesome feel of infiltration and storming the castle, Castlevania 3 does feel like it has the grandest scale of, well, any Castlevania. The intro lays out the story of a war, and that they need a Belmont to get to Dracula and kill him. So as you progress, you see the map, tracking your progress around the part of the country where Dracula's castle resides. The multiple paths add a strategic layer to it as well; what would be the best route to take to get into the castle? What's the least-treacherous? And even the clock tower level, which looks like an easy way to the castle, becomes an obstacle as it collapses, forcing you to go back down and find a new path.

 

It's brilliant. So very brilliant. And finding the helpers is just the icing on the cake, other characters that have a beef with Dracula and want to help you take him down. I should give it another play or two. ... still on the Famicom version.

 

On an aside, I've begun Order of Ecclesia at last. Made it to the mountain level. Pretty good so far, kind of like a Simon's Quest that doesn't suck, though that's also kind of a misleading description. That crab boss can die though.

[Air Luigi]

Castlevania III is awesome, the more you play it, the more you like it. Every character changues totally the approach through the game. It's a blast when you master the thing and also it's a gorgeous piece of 8 bit detail. These backgrounds and overall vibe inspired me a lot.

The bosses in Eclessia are quite hard, you have to learn the patterns. Prepare your glyphs and jimmies. This game require to.be played very carefully compared with the rest of explorative Castlevania. It's a divisive game because many people can't deal with the challenge. But if you like the difficulty, the game is one of the most fun in the series. After the disappoinment with Portrait, I had a blast with this one.

Edited by Air Luigi, 15 September 2015 - 09:07 AM.

[The Satellite]

Finally beat Order of Ecclesia after some delays. Literally I saved outside Dracula's door and didn't pick up the game again for a few days until now. It was pretty damn good. Not perfect; some of the difficulty was annoying, some copy/pasted areas were boring, and there were those few area that were just a straight line through and felt like a waste of time. But plenty of other parts of the game were really fun and overall I quite enjoyed it. The only real negative is that the story was kind of dumb, but I mean, while there are good stories in Castlevania, I guess they've never been masterpieces, so... small negative?

 

Soon I shall conquer Rondo of Blood... and then I will have played every Castlevania game. Well, the ones that matter; Game Boy games I might try later but I have no real desire to, and anything else... meh.

[Koh]

The original, remaster or the SNES version that was completely different?  Or all three?

[Air Luigi]

Belmont's Revenge is worth playing, the best of the Game Boy games. It has unique ideas and great music, and a cool Game Boy charm. Adventure and Legends were below average >.>

Haunted Castle is very interesting also, it has one of my favorite osts in the series. A shame that the quality drops after the three first stages.

[The Satellite]

The original, remaster or the SNES version that was completely different?  Or all three?

Original. I'll buy it off Wii Virtual Console, because it's on there for some baffling reason even though it never came out in the West in its original format, or hell, even a PlayStation 1 rerelease, but hey, I'm not complaining. I already played Dracula X, the SNES port/remake, and it's... not good. The platforming didn't feel designed for stiff jumping mechanics and there's just some haphazard and downright cruel enemy placement. Overall it's not horrible, but it feels very much like a rushed job.
 
I have no interest in the PSP version.
 

Haunted Castle is very interesting also, it has one of my favorite osts in the series. A shame that the quality drops after the three first stages.

I watched a walkthrough of that a while ago. It's something. That walk cycle... That sure was a thing.

[KingPridenia]

Yeah, Dracula X is a game I feel was a step down from Super Castlevania IV. Look how smooth Simon's control is in that game and how stiff the control is in Dracula X. The only thing I like about its control over SCIV's is the backflip to some degree. But otherwise, a lot of deaths are thanks to either cheap enemy placement and like most Nintendo Hard games, knockback. I've seen both games through to the end. Dracula X's final boss is just hell. One hit when you're not ducking is about a 95% chance of falling into a pit. In SCIV, the fight at least is fair since you don't have platform hell to worry about (I'm talking even assuming you ignore the secret that gives 99 hearts, a ton of porkchops, a full whip, Cross with Triple Shot).

 

One small thing that I WILL give Dracula X though; who would have thought the Count's weakness would have been a key of all things? I think I posted the video before in this thread, but if not, just look it up. It's hilarious watching Dracula get owned by a key of all things.

[Koh]

 it never came out in the West in its original format

...
I have no interest in the PSP version.

This is actually why you should have an interest in the PSP version, lol.  It comes with the original translated and dubbed (you have to find it during the remake as a disc), Symphony of the Night re-casted and translated (ditto), and some failure to load game.  The Symphony of the Night here has the Maria Mode from the Saturn version, and an updated Maria fight too from the Saturn version.  Unfortunately, I don't think it brought over the Saturn exclusive areas in the castle.  They also didn't even use the sprite from the Saturn version for Richter that actually properly matches his new appearance for SotN's story.  Instead it's the same old sprite from Rondo of Blood, which is way off in terms of design, lol.

Edited by Koh, 24 September 2015 - 03:47 PM.

[The Satellite]

I've heard there are occasional sound issues with the redubbed version of Rondo of Blood, but honestly I'm not too bothered by it nor interested in the story; it's a Classicvania! Just give me some intro text (or in this case a brief synopsis) and let me at Dracula!

 

Plus, that would require playing the remake, which looks oh so unappealing to me. The character models, the way they animate, many of the environment graphics, it all just seems off to me; the sprite work of the PC-Engine original just looks so much more appealing. Also, new features or no, I ain't touching that Symphony of the Night redub with a ten-foot pole; the new script and acting aren't bad, but they lack the charm of the original cheesy acting, as well as being far less memorable. Also I honestly think the original Dracula voice is far superior unironically.